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US judge allows sale of 'infringing' phones
Source: Agencies |
December 19, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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A US federal judge has rejected Apple Inc's demands that its chief rival in the more than US$100 billion global smartphone market cease selling models a jury recently found illegally used Apple technology.
The ruling means Samsung can continue to sell three of the older-generation smartphones still on US shelves that a San Jose jury in August found ripped off technology Apple used to create its iPhone.
The jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple US$1.05 billion after it found the South Korean titan "infringed" several of Apple's patents in creating 26 products - three of which are still being sold in the USs.
US District Judge Lucy Koh noted in her ruling issued on Monday night that Samsung claims to have "worked around" using different technology than the Apple patents found to have been infringed such as the iPhone's popular "pinch to zoom" feature.
And even if that's a false claim, the judge ruled, Apple's demands to yank the Samsung products from US shelves and bar future sales was too broad of a punishment in devices built with technology backed by hundreds of patents each.
"The phones at issue in this case contain a broad range of features, only a small fraction of which are covered by Apple's patents," Koh wrote in her ruling. "Though Apple does have some interest in retaining certain features as exclusive to Apple, it does not follow that entire products must be forever banned from the market because they incorporate, among their myriad features, a few narrow protected functions."
The judge also concluded the public would be harmed if she ordered a ban.
"Though the phones do contain infringing features, they contain a far greater number of non-infringing features to which consumers would no longer have access if this Court were to issue an injunction," the judge wrote. "The public interest does not support removing phones from the market."
At the same time, the judge also rejected Samsung's call for a new trial because of alleged juror misconduct.
Samsung had alleged jury foreman Velvin Hogan committed misconduct for failing to disclose his former employer Seagate Technology filed a lawsuit against him in 1993. Samsung later acquired nearly 10 percent of Seagate.
Samsung alleged after the trial that Hogan had a bias against it because of its ownership stake in Seagate
The judge said Samsung had the ability to investigate whether Hogan was biased toward it before trial started because the company's lawyer possessed Hogan's bankruptcy file.
The ruling means Samsung can continue to sell three of the older-generation smartphones still on US shelves that a San Jose jury in August found ripped off technology Apple used to create its iPhone.
The jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple US$1.05 billion after it found the South Korean titan "infringed" several of Apple's patents in creating 26 products - three of which are still being sold in the USs.
US District Judge Lucy Koh noted in her ruling issued on Monday night that Samsung claims to have "worked around" using different technology than the Apple patents found to have been infringed such as the iPhone's popular "pinch to zoom" feature.
And even if that's a false claim, the judge ruled, Apple's demands to yank the Samsung products from US shelves and bar future sales was too broad of a punishment in devices built with technology backed by hundreds of patents each.
"The phones at issue in this case contain a broad range of features, only a small fraction of which are covered by Apple's patents," Koh wrote in her ruling. "Though Apple does have some interest in retaining certain features as exclusive to Apple, it does not follow that entire products must be forever banned from the market because they incorporate, among their myriad features, a few narrow protected functions."
The judge also concluded the public would be harmed if she ordered a ban.
"Though the phones do contain infringing features, they contain a far greater number of non-infringing features to which consumers would no longer have access if this Court were to issue an injunction," the judge wrote. "The public interest does not support removing phones from the market."
At the same time, the judge also rejected Samsung's call for a new trial because of alleged juror misconduct.
Samsung had alleged jury foreman Velvin Hogan committed misconduct for failing to disclose his former employer Seagate Technology filed a lawsuit against him in 1993. Samsung later acquired nearly 10 percent of Seagate.
Samsung alleged after the trial that Hogan had a bias against it because of its ownership stake in Seagate
The judge said Samsung had the ability to investigate whether Hogan was biased toward it before trial started because the company's lawyer possessed Hogan's bankruptcy file.
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